The headstrong, turbulent Nevada town of Gold Hill

8:39 PM,
Jun. 30, 2012

Above, the Yellow Jacket Mine and mill site is in the foreground. Behind it is the Crown Point Mine and mill. An 1869 fire in the Yellow Jacket Mine killed more than 35 people. Gold Hill Hotel, left, was built in 1859.

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Although prospectors had been panning for gold since the early 1850s, it wasn't until 1859 that "Old Virginia" Fennimore found rich ore on a hill at the northern end of Gold Canyon, just a mile or so south of present day Virginia City.

He quickly dubbed the area Gold Hill, and the rush was on. Old Virginia, who had dwelled in a dugout there, wouldn't live long enough to see the impact his discovery made on the area. During one of his drinking bouts, he fell from a horse and died.

Nicholas "Dutch Nick" Ambrosia dragged his combination eatery and bar from Johntown, a few miles distant, to the new find and ...